US treasure hunters ready to snatch gold from the jaws of Victory

US treasure hunters should be banned from raising the wreck of one of
Britain’s greatest warships and taking some of the millions of pounds of
gold coins she is believed to contain, leading archaeologists and
descendants of the crew demand today.

The 42-pounder bronze cannon recovered from the shipwreck site of HMS Victory in the English Channel in 2008 is lowered onto the deck of the Odyssey ExplorerPhoto: AP

They said that allowing HMS Victory, predecessor to Nelson’s flagship, to be exploited for commercial gain would be a “flagrant breach” of the military covenant and an “appalling betrayal” of more than 1,000 Royal Navy sailors who died.

The wreck was discovered by the US company Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2008, 264 years after it sank in a storm off the Channel Islands. Experts believe it may contain gold worth hundreds of millions of pounds as well as 100 bronze cannon.

The Ministry of Defence concluded that recovery could go ahead under the auspices of a charity. Lord Lingfield, formerly Sir Robert Balchin , a descendant of Admiral Sir John Balchen , the ship’s commander, founded the Maritime Heritage Foundation for the purpose.

The foundation has submitted its plans to the MoD and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and signed a contract with Odyssey which would give the Florida-based firm 80 per cent of the value of coins and bullion recovered and 50 per cent of the value of cultural

artefacts. The Government is expected to make an announcement soon on whether it will sanction the proposals. No work can go ahead without the approval of Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, but the plans are fraught with controversy.

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, Richard West, another direct descendant of Admiral Sir John Balchen, and Robert Yorke, chairman of the Joint Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee, said the deal represented the “most inappropriate and distasteful kind of commercial exploitation”.

They expressed fears that any finds raised from the military grave would be sold on the commercial antiquities market for private profit and said the foundation had no relevant experience or discernible resources.

Victory was on active duty when she sank in 1744 and experts note that if she were a 20th century vessel she would be regarded as a war grave protected by sovereign immunity. The complete recovery could cost up to £25 million.

In a House of Lords debate on Victory last year, Lord Renfrew, a former professor of archaeology at Cambridge University, warned that a Unesco convention made clear that the excavation of historic wrecks should not be financed by selling items recovered and to contravene it would set a “terrible example”.

“It would be a tawdry thing to do with this great historic flagship of the Royal Navy,” he said, asking how a case could be made for selling treasure from a historic wreck.

“There are major ethical issues involved here and it is difficult to avoid the impression that the Government are giving a poor and ill-informed lead internationally in their dealings with Britain’s underwater heritage.”

Baroness Andrews, chairman of English Heritage, said the charity was “concerned” about Odyssey’s proposed plans to manage the site and questioned whether the funding arrangements were sufficiently transparent. “We do not believe that the proposals for the wreck are based on an adequate and authoritative assessment of its historical significance, nor a full understanding of the threats to and vulnerabilities of the site,” she said.

“We urge the Government to think hard about this, to recognise that our maritime heritage is an exceptional national asset, not an overseas

commodity, and to act with resolve.”

English Heritage has no statutory role outside English waters but sits on a committee to advise the MoD and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Lord Lingfield highlighted the fact that because the wreck is in international waters, it is not legally protected. He said it shifted with the tides and was at risk of damage from trawlers and theft.

He said the foundation planned to conserve and exhibit all artefacts found at the site although he declined to comment on how the recovery would be financed, saying that the foundation would submit a report to the Charity Commission.

Lord Lingfield has insisted that Odyssey is “wholly reputable”. But it was at the centre of a controversy after lifting 17 tons of silver coins from the wreck of a Spanish frigate sunk by the Navy in 1804. It was ordered to return the cargo without compensation last year and was criticised by a US judge who said the ship should have lain undisturbed “despite any man’s aspiration to the contrary”.